New Delhi, Oct. 18: A former Kenya MP, known for his extravagance and often seen driving a red Hummer, is cooling his heels in Tihar jail after he was allegedly caught with bundles of undeclared US dollars on arrival at Delhi airport.
Raphael Wanjala, the former MP for Budalangi and Kenya’s former assistant minister for water and irrigation, had travelled from Uganda via Dubai on board the Emirates EK- 514 flight, on October 10. He was accompanied by a woman, Joyce Akinyi, who, too, has been arrested.
Kenyan high commissioner Francis Kaberia confirmed the arrests and said he had been asked to hire a lawyer for the duo and apply for bail by the Kenyan foreign minister.
A customs official said cash worth more than $5,000 (Rs 2.4 lakh) has to be declared at the airport and passengers have to obtain a currency declaration certificate.
A source said the couple were caught carrying around $100,000 (Rs 49 lakh), which they had not declared.
The revenue intelligence department has been alerted about the arrests and the narcotics bureau is investigating if the money was to be used for purchasing drugs.
Wanjala, 44, and Akinyi, 24, have refused to give the names and addresses of people they were to meet and stay with in Delhi, sources said. They could not even explain the purpose of their visit, an official said.
Investigators have found several Pakistani telephone numbers in a personal diary, the sources added.
Tihar officials also confirmed Wanjala was being held in the jail, but there was no record of the arrest of Akinyi. The sources said this was because she was using another name, Ochieng Teressa.
Both have cases pending against them in Kenyan courts. Akinyi was to appear in a court in Nairobi on October 8 in a case filed by a businessman accusing her of failing to deliver on a multi-million-shilling ($1=84 shilling) deal. She is also involved in a property dispute with her husband.
Wanjala has an assault case pending following an attack on a TV cameraman, Mustafa Mwalimu, on July 8 at the Stanley Hotel in Nairobi. The next hearing is due on October 27.
Tihar, with more than 11,000 inmates, is India’s largest prison and houses 502 foreign prisoners. Most of them are from African countries.
